A/N: I've gone through all of my stories and I've started to edit them. This one has been slightly altered to make it flow better and edited. All of the chapters already posted will be edited and updated and I will have new chapters up shortly. Sorry if you've been waiting on this story for a while, I've had a case of major writer's block.


Chapter One

Buffy was not happy about where she was about to travel to. They'd picked up most of the newer slayers over the last few months, but there were still some that were trickling in over time. The Coven that Giles was working with would tell them when they'd missed one and where to find them. Sometimes they even got a name with the location, and then sometimes they just got a general location. A lot of the girls had been hard to sell about bringing them back to Rome with them, but most of them went willingly because of all of the questions they had. Just about all of the parents had been okay with, even encouraging their children to go along. They didn't know how to handle the situation, so they let Buffy take them with her. They'd based their new headquarters out of Rome, so they sometimes had to wait for passports to come through. Faith had come to Rome with them, she was turning out to be a huge help to Buffy. It was a relief having her; it gave her another slayer to talk to that wasn't a newbie. She'd just gotten a call from Giles, who had told her about a new slayer in Connecticut. Buffy herself was going to go down there to get her. She walked out of her new office and motioned for Dawn to come over, and when she did, Buffy took her aside.

"Giles just called about another slayer. She's apparently around your age, so I want you to come with me, okay?" Dawn nodded.

"I thought we had everyone now. Where is she?" Buffy grinned.

"I'm sure they're going to be coming in for the next several months. Remember, we've still got girls who had to wait for the passports. She's in a place called 'Stars Hollow'. I think the name sounds kind of queer, but it's a real place in Connecticut." Dawn wrinkled her nose.

"Yuck! They have all of that snow and junk." Buffy giggled.

"I have to tell Andrew and Xander to get packed, they're coming with us. I may also bring another slayer." Dawn left to go and get packed as well, excited that her sister was including her for once.

Buffy, Dawn, Xander, Andrew, and Rona were all going to fly into Hartford, and then they were going to drive the short distance to Stars Hollow. Andrew was now Buffy's assistant and her right hand guy. He did anything Buffy wanted, whenever she wanted, and even though he was still extremely annoying, he'd become very useful. Dawn sometimes thought he dedicated himself because of Anya. He never talked about the day at the school, but Dawn sensed that he felt bad. Rona was one of the best slayers they had, but she had a severe attitude problem in Dawn's opinion. Well, she wasn't worse than Kennedy, but she was sure close. She was glad that Xander was going, because he was the funny one and tended to stay close to Dawn. He was like the big brother she never got, and she loved him for his protective ways. It took them awhile before they could board the plane, so they had to hang around the terminal and wait. Rona, always the optimist, grumbled as they checked their bags.

"I hope she's not difficult, Buffy. The last girl we went to get…difficult." Buffy smiled.

"I'm sure we'll be fine.


Rory was walking down the hallway in Chilton to get to her locker, when she saw Paris Gellar walking towards her. Rory really didn't understand her relationship with Paris. They'd started out hating each other, and now they were pretty good friends. They talked to one another every single day, worked on school projects together, and were even known to go to the same party every once in a while. It was a good thing that Tristan wasn't still at the school because he was a sore point for Paris. She'd gone on one date with him, had a fabulous time, and he told her he liked her like a sister…poor Paris. Rory was so glad that she had Dean, she didn't have to worry about the nonsense of dating…she'd found her perfect match. The only downside about it was she couldn't see him as often as she wanted. He still went to Stars Hollow High and had a part-time job, so their time together was limited. Her mom sometimes joked with her when she waited impatiently for him to get off of work. She knew she was just poking fun because she was the same way when Luke worked. Rory smiled to herself when Paris stopped beside her.

"Have you picked a subject for your senior project yet?" Rory shrugged and tried not to roll her eyes. School had just started for them, so they had months before they had to worry about that.

"Hey Paris, I've not really thought about it. You do know that it's not due for another six months, right?" Paris glared at Rory.

"Rory, this is very important! This project counts as half of our grade!" Rory did her best to hide her smile.

"I'm aware of that fact, Paris, and I have it down in my calendar to start panicking next month." Paris glared at Rory's sarcastic remark; she didn't like it when Rory got glib about something as important to her as her grades.

"Oh fine, make fun of me! You watch and see though, I'll be the prepared one when the times come, and you won't be able to say that I didn't try and warn you." Paris walked away leaving Rory rolling her eyes.


Buffy was going over her plan while Dawn listened to music, Xander was reading, Andrew was drawing, and Rona was sleeping. Buffy kind of felt bad that she had to take these girls away from their perfectly normal lives and have to throw them into the demon pool…literally. Most of these girls didn't even know that there were demons, let alone that they were supposed to help fight them. Sighing, she closed the folder she was looking at and picked up the plane's phone. She quickly checked her voicemail and was disturbed when she heard a frantic Giles on the other end. She didn't like it when Giles got frantic because that usually meant that the world was going to end unless she stopped it. Frankly, she was tired of all of the apocalypse business getting shoved onto her shoulders. Granted, she did have more fighters now and she didn't have to do it herself, but why did it have to happen so frequently? She didn't want the new girls to have to face something like their first group had been forced to do. It was just lucky that they'd been able to get the power or none of them would have survived. She listened to Giles's message and her stomach immediately got tight. The older British man didn't know how to leave a normal message, it was all so frantic.

"Buffy, you have to call me back as soon as possible! It's urgent that I speak with you before you make contact with the girl." Buffy hung up, swiped her credit card again, and dialed Giles's phone number, which he picked up almost immediately.

"Buffy, is that you?" Buffy was worried that he answered so quickly and that he immediately assumed it was her.

"Yeah Giles, what's up?" She heard him sigh and she found herself wondering if he was cleaning his glasses like he always did when he got stressed.

"It looks like you're not bringing back just one girl, Buffy." Buffy looked over at her traveling group, who were all staring at her with worry in their eyes.

"What are you talking about, Giles? You seriously need to calm down because you're freaking me out a little bit." Giles paused before he continued.

"Sorry, I guess I was getting a little worked up. I got a call from the coven and they said that you were supposed to bring back two girls from the same town…two slayers." Buffy let her head hit the back of her seat. She was really glad that she'd brought everyone now, but she was instantly relieved. Why Giles thought that an extra girl was such a cause for worry, she didn't understand.

"Oh Giles, is that all? I'll call you when we land so I can get more info from you. This call is costing me a fortune." When she hung up, she looked over at the worried faces.

"We're picking up two slayers…not one."


The bus ride home seemed longer than it normally did for Rory. When she got off of the bus, no one was waiting for her like they normally were. Dean must have had to work and Lane was probably practicing with her band. She decided to walk on home instead of visiting Dean at work. She really didn't feel like talking to Taylor that particular day. When she walked up to her front door, she gingerly turned the knob and shut it just as gently. Something strange was definitely happening to Rory, but she hadn't talked to anyone about it. So far, she'd broken the door on her locker, shattered two glasses she'd been holding, and she bent a spoon like it had been rubber or something. She wasn't sure what was going on, but she was sure she'd sound crazy if she told anyone. She walked into her bedroom and stood in front of her bed. Taking a deep breath, she used one hand to lift the bed off of its legs. She was able to lift it to her complete height without exerting herself. She put it down quickly and went into the kitchen. Maybe she was just getting sick or something that had to be all it was.


The next day, Buffy and the gang got off of the plane at Hartford Airport. They rented a Honda CRV and headed out towards Stars Hollow. Xander was driving; Buffy was up front with him, while the rest of them were in the back. Dawn was looking at the map, Andrew was looking over her shoulder, and Rona was sitting stonily silent like she did. Dawn knew that Andrew wasn't really looking at the map and she had to fight not to smile because she didn't want to bring attention to herself. She knew that it was dumb, but she liked him. He was nerdy and more than a little annoying at times, but he made her laugh like no one had been able to do in quite a while. Sure, they'd beaten the big bad, but they'd paid such a huge cost. She hadn't been able to finish high school like she'd wanted. Buffy had paid for a tutor and she'd gotten her degree by mail, not by walking across the stage like she'd desperately wanted. They'd lost several girls, more than half who had gone down into the pit that day. The one that bothered her the most was losing Spike. He'd looked out for her and made sure she wasn't left out. He'd saved them all, but he was gone now and she missed him. With that thought in her head almost constantly, it was nice that Andrew could distract her. The map she was looking at eventually pulled her attention away from her thoughts. And not being able to stop herself, Dawn finally spoke up.

"Do you realize that Stars Hollow isn't even on a map until you get halfway through Hartford? What is up with that?" Xander glanced in the rearview mirror to smile at her reassuringly.

"Sunnydale was kind of like that you know. It wasn't on the major maps because it was so small. Maybe it's just like that for them." Dawn snickered as a mean sort of thought entered her mind.

"Yeah, let's just hope they're not sitting on top of a hellmouth." Buffy shot her a dirty look over her shoulder.

"Willow looked the town up on the net…they don't have a police force or a fire department. It's all done on a voluntary basis and they haven't had a registered crime since the late 1970's. I think that this'll be a nice break from the other towns." Xander chuckled and Dawn frowned at Buffy.

"It sounds like we're about to enter into 'Pleasantville'." This got Rona to laugh which surprised all of them. She looked at them with her eyebrow raised, a smile still on her face.

"Hey, if I get a break from demons, it's cool." They drove into the day and ended up at the Dragonfly Inn at around two. Buffy advised them to wait until she'd had a look around before they got out of the car. She walked around the yard for a bit and then motioned for them to join her. They got their bags out of the car and handed the keys over to the valet attendant. When they walked into the lobby, there were two people standing behind the desk. One was a very annoyed looking man and the second was a pretty woman reading a magazine. When they approached, the woman threw a look at the man, who didn't budge, and then she turned her full attention to them.

"Welcome to the Dragonfly Inn, how can I help you?" The man standing beside her snickered in a mischievous way.

"You enjoy that way too much." The woman ignored him and Buffy couldn't help but laugh.

"I hope so…we need four rooms and we didn't make reservations." The lady flipped through a book.

"You're in luck, I have four rooms available. Did you need any of them to be doubles?" Confused, Buffy looked around and saw what she meant. Unfortunately, she had forgotten about Andrew. She threw an apologetic look to him and to Xander.

"Yes, we do need one double room." The lady pulled out some cards and handed them to her.

"I need everyone to fill one of these cards out, also is everyone twenty-one?" Buffy shook her head.

"My sister is only seventeen, but I'm her legal guardian." The lady smiled again.

"Okay, she doesn't need to fill one out, just add her to your card. Next, how many days will you be staying?" Buffy's phone chose that precise moment to go off and she had to let Xander take over. He walked up the desk and smiled politely at the kind woman behind the counter.

"We're staying for at least five days." The lady nodded again, and while they were filling out their cards, she smiled prettily at Dawn.

"Are you guys on vacation from school?" Dawn shook her head; she hated it when people asked where they were from because she was never quite sure what to tell them.

"No, we're just on vacation from Rome. We moved there a few months ago and we've missed the states. So, we decided that we needed to come and visit home…or around home. We've actually never been here before." The lady's smile just got bigger.

"Wow, I'd kill to live in Rome that must be exciting." Dawn giggled; this woman was extremely easy to talk to.

"It's definitely beautiful there." Buffy handed her the cards and grinned over at Dawn for the tales she was spinning. The lady handed her the keys with her smile still firmly in place.

"Okay, I'll have Tom take your things up with you. My name is Lorelai Gilmore; you can ask me about anything. If I'm not available, this gentleman is Michel and you can bug him anytime you want. I hope you enjoy your stay in Stars Hollow." Dawn smiled again and followed the bellboy up to her room. Maybe Stars Hollow wasn't going to be boring after all.